Being a real estate agent isn’t just about getting listings and showing houses. Many times, you’ll also need to help develop prospective buyers – turning them from renters into homeowners by coaching them on their credit and how to improve their access to financing. It isn’t about getting them into bigger loans than they can . . .

Marketing needs direction. If you are in the business of buying or selling homes, you need to know who you’re marketing to. Of course, many real estate agents are working a niche, and local markets can vary widely. In general though, I’m a big advocate of what I call “selling to the fat part of . . .

There’s an exercise instructor in St. Paul, Minn., who just celebrated the big one. One hundred years. Yup, 100 years old and she still teaches exercise techniques to fellow residents at her senior apartment complex. She began teaching 15 years ago – at the age of 85. To what does Lauretta Taggert attribute her longevity, . . .

Just as all real estate agents aren’t alike, nor are all real estate clients. Some are better than others. Now sure, “better” is in the mind of the beholder. Maybe a better client to you is one that can make up his mind before touring the 100th house for sale. Perhaps to the agent at . . .

We’ve all seen them: Websites that are supposed to sell, but wind up making their owners look dumb, inept or out of touch. We live in a digital era. According to the 2014 NAR Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers: 92 percent of homebuyers use the Internet when looking for information 76 percent of buyers view . . .

I know what some of you may be thinking. “Who doesn’t know how to retain clients? It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense and there’s really only one way to do it – keep in touch with them.” However, think about how many agents don’t have a referral base. Maybe it’s not as easy as . . .

When it comes down to it, real estate agents aren’t really in the real estate business – just as restaurant owners aren’t really in the food service business and roofers aren’t in the roofing business. Sure, houses, land, apartments and storefronts are the commodities you help people buy and sell – but you’re still not . . .

There’s an old and odious real estate saying that “Buyers are liars.” It’s odious because it’s not completely true and it’s repulsive because lying – or withholding the entire truth – isn’t endemic to real estate consumers. We all have the capacity to lie when we’re expected to buy. Whether we’re shopping for a pair . . .

Like many small businesses, real estate agents have been enjoying a pretty sweet deal on Facebook for a while now. We all know how vital word-of-mouth is to real estate agents – especially to newer agents who don’t have a ton of cash flow for traditional forms of advertising. In recent years, many agents have . . .

Have you ever watched the real estate TV show about first-time homebuyers? At the beginning of each show, an agent takes the buyers to a chosen neighborhood, and as they walk the streets, asks them to guess the price of each home for sale. Yup, you guessed it: Most of the time, the buyers undervalue . . .